As Bernie Sanders defies expectations with his virtual tie in Iowa and his New Hampshire victory, people are starting to realize that Hillary Clinton really has a competitor in Sanders.

Clinton and her supporters explain that her appeal is that of a “ready on day one” attitude and she will “get things done” if she were to become the next president. In attempt to gain momentum with this ideology, the Clinton campaign utilized Gloria Steinem and Madeleine Albright, two important, girl-power feminists, to reprimand young female voters for not supporting Clinton, the only woman candidate.

According to the New York Times, Albright said “We can tell our story of how we climbed the ladder, and a lot of you younger women think it’s done, it’s not done. There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other!”

 Steinem went along the same lines suggesting on “Real Time with Bill Maher” that young women are supporting Sanders’s campaign because “the boys are with Bernie.” Steinem and Albright both received notable backlash for their comments, with the Times reporting that some young women were insulted by the suggestion that they were “misinformed and stupid” for not voting along gendered lines.

Steinem has since apologized, assuring that she misspoke, but the implications for female voters give way to a serious discussion. Should women side with Clinton because they can relate with her or because we think she would be the best person to become president? In my opinion, It should be the latter. Just because Hillary Clinton is a woman, does not mean that I should side with her because she is a woman.

I think, on the basis of honesty, trustworthiness and integrity, Americans will start to see who Sanders is and Clinton isn’t, and his poll numbers will heighten even more in comparison to Clinton’s.

Mentioned by moderator Judy Woodruff at the debate on Feb. 11, “55% of women voters voted for Sanders in the New Hampshire primary rather than Clinton.” In my view, Hillary then expressed more than ever her agreement with Sanders on major issues habitually throughout the debate.

Clinton has now voiced that she is on board with breaking up the big banks because she realizes that Sanders is striking a chord in voters with his plan for a “political revolution.” Clinton set an example of a meaningless ad hominem at the debate when she attacked the character of Sanders, painting him as disloyal to Obama.

In my opinion, these insults thrown at Sanders were in effort to gather African American votes by making Sanders look as if he didn’t support our African American president. Sanders responded by calling it a “low blow” arguing “one of us ran against Barack Obama, I was not that candidate.”

When it comes to Bernie vs. Clinton, Bernie is the real deal, someone whom I believe is the most genuine person in the whole race. Many men and women like myself are tired of untrustworthy politicians who say anything to get their foot in the White House door without fulfilling any of their promises.

While Hillary identifies as a Democrat for the people, Bernie has a long history of fighting for people’s rights, rather than being on the board of Walmart. He has stuck to both his message and his views from the very beginning, rather than changing them to the benefit of one particular audience or another.

Sanders and Clinton both have a difficult competition at their hands against each other. There’s no question about that. However, I strongly believe that as more people get to know this messy-haired Democratic socialist from Vermont, they will begin to see who they can really trust between the two candidates.